When the people became aware of Moses' delay in
coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him,
"Come, make us a god who will be our leader; as for the man Moses who
brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to
him."

2

Aaron replied, "Have your wives and sons
and daughters take off the golden earrings they are wearing, and bring them to
me."

3

So all the people took off their earrings and
brought them to Aaron,

4

who accepted their offering, and fashioning
this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out,
"This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt."

5

1 On seeing this, Aaron built an altar before
the calf and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is a feast of the LORD."

6

Early the next day the people offered holocausts
and brought peace offerings. Then they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up
to revel.

7

With that, the LORD said to Moses, "Go
down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for
they have become depraved.

8

They have soon turned aside from the way I
pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,
sacrificing to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt!'

9

I see how stiff-necked this people is,"
continued the LORD to Moses.

10

"Let me alone, then, that my wrath may
blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great
nation."

11

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
"Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you
brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a
hand?

12

Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent
he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate
them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in
punishing your people.

13

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I
promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"

14

So the LORD relented in the punishment he had
threatened to inflict on his people.

15

Moses then turned and came down the mountain
with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, tablets that were
written on both sides, front and back;

16

tablets that were made by God, having
inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

17

Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people
shouting, he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."

18

But Moses answered, "It does not sound
like cries of victory, nor does it sound like cries of defeat; the sounds that
I hear are cries of revelry."

19

As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and
the dancing. With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets
down and broke them on the base of the mountain.

20

2 Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in
the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and
made the Israelites drink.

21

Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people
ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?" Aaron
replied, "Let not my lord be angry.

22

You know well enough how prone the people are
to evil.

23

They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our
leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not
know what has happened to him.'

24

So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry
take it off.' They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf
came out."

25

When Moses realized that, to the scornful joy
of their foes, Aaron had let the people run wild,

26

he stood at the gate of the camp and cried,
"Whoever is for the LORD, let him come to me!" All the Levites then
rallied to him,

27

3 and he told them, "Thus says the LORD,
the God of Israel: Put your sword on your hip, every one of you! Now go up and
down the camp, from gate to gate, and slay your own kinsmen, your friends and
neighbors!"

28

The Levites carried out the command of Moses,
and that day there fell about three thousand of the people.

29

4 Then Moses said, "Today you have been
dedicated to the LORD, for you were against your own sons and kinsmen, to bring
a blessing upon yourselves this day."

30

On the next day Moses said to the people,
"You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the LORD, then; perhaps I
may be able to make atonement for your sin."

31

So Moses went back to the LORD and said,
"Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold
for themselves!

32

5 If you would only forgive their sin! If you
will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."

33

The LORD answered, "Him only who has
sinned against me will I strike out of my book.

34

Now, go and lead the people whither I have told
you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will
punish them for their sin."

35

Thus the LORD smote the people for having had
Aaron make the calf for them.

1 [5] The calf . . . a feast of the LORD:
from this it is clear that the golden calf was intended as an image, not of a
false god, but of the LORD himself, his strength being symbolized by the
strength of a young bull. The Israelites, however, had been forbidden to
represent the Lord under any visible form. Cf ⇒ Exodus 20:4.

3 [27] Slay your own kinsmen . . . :
those who were especially guilty of the idolatry.

4 [29] Dedicated to the LORD: because
of their zeal for the true worship of the Lord, the Levites were chosen to be
special ministers of the ritual service. However, the meaning of the Hebrew
here is somewhat disputed.

5 [32] The book that you have
written: the list of God's intimate friends. In a similar sense St. Paul wished
to be anathema from Christ for the sake of his brethren. Cf
⇒ Romans 9:3.